Art of producing engraved patterns for silverware and the like



Feb, 25, 1936. H M BALLOU 2,032,039

ART OF PRODUCING ENGRAVED PATTERNS FOR SILVERWARE AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 22, 1934 Jwvewior A014. 23%

Q MW

@Wforney Patented Feb. 25, 1936 STATE PATENT OFFICE ART OF PRODUCING ENGRAVED PATTERNS FOR SILVERWARE AND THE LIKE Application August 22, 1934, Serial No. 740,888

3 Claims.

This invention relates to the art of producing engraved patterns upon articles of precious meta-l, such as gold or silver ware, and is intended to so reduce the cost of producing articles of that sort possessing their characteristic brilliance and clearness of design, that has heretofore distin guished such ornamentation from the ordinary die-cut or stamped design, as to bring engraved pattern ware within the means of many who heretofore have been unable to afford such very expensive but greatly desired ware.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated progressive stages in the production of an ornamental pattern on a spoon handle in accordance with the principle of this invention, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a spoon handle upon which has been impressed or sunk a stamped or die-cut pattern in accordance with well known practice.

Fig. 2 is a cross section of the spoon handle shown in Fig. l on plane Z2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the same on the plane 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the same spoon after it has been subjected to hand engraving treatment according to my invention.

Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view of the engraved spoon on the plane 5-5 corresponding to plane 2-2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view on plane 6-6 of Fig. 4 corresponding tothe cross sectional plane 33 of Fig. 1.

For many years past there have been known to silversmiths two recognized types of ornamentation for table Ware and other precious metal articles, namely, the engraved ware and the stamped ware, the former being far superior in aesthetical appeal to the latter by reason of the clearness and brilliance of the design, yet owing to the great expense of producing the brilliant engraved patterns comparatively little of the engraved pattern ware has been sold and in recent years almost none of it is being produced in spite of its greater attractiveness.

The engravers Work is performed by means of a hand graving tool, which removes but a very minute shaving of metal at each stroke, and even then the engraver must apply the tool under heavy pressure so that the work of engraving a pattern is very slow and exacting and requires highly skilled workmen. Consequently, engraved pattern ware must sell for five or six times the price of stamped pattern ware, or in some cases, particularly when the pattern is deeply sunk, an even higher ratio of increase in cost is involved in times when engraved ware can be sold at all.

In my study of this situation I have conceived the idea that the cost of production might be greatly cut down and the desired results might be obtained by first die-cutting or impressing into the article the main body of the pattern by the operation of suitable stamping dies in the well known manner, then using a hand graving tool to cut the rounded bottom portions of the depressions formed by the die into sharply defined cuts, so that very little material need be cut away to produce a sharpness of definition resulting in the brilliant appearance that is characteristic of engraved patterns as heretofore produced and subsequent experiment has demonstrated that an engraved pattern as deep as may be desired can be successfully produced at a small fraction of the expense involved in the prior art method of producing such patterns.

In the practice of this invention, as illustratedin the drawing, such an article as a spoon l is stamped in the usual manner by means of suitably cut pattern dies. The pressure of the die impresses into the spoon the depressed or sunken design, which of course has the rounded bottoms or corners that are normally produced by such stamping operation, as partly illustrated in the cross sectional views of spoon l in Fig. 2 and in Fig. 3.

The spoon stamped with the pattern in this manner is then taken to the engraver who uses his hand graver or cutting tool to sharpen the contours of the rounded bottoms of the grooves or depressions by cutting them to a sharply defined line, as partly illustrated in the cross sectional views of Fig. 5 and Fig. 6. This sharp cutting out of the bottom portions of the depressions will be suggested on comparing Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 with the corresponding cross sections shown in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, which illustrate the contours of the stamped depressions as they are produced by the die. This cutting away or engraving of the stamped pattern by hand is found to impart to the prestamped pattern that brilliance and clearness of design which have been characteristic and distinctive of patterns formed wholly heretofore by engraving, but at a mere fraction of the cost that has heretofore been involved in producing engraved patterns.

What I claim is:

1. The improvement in the art of producing engraved patterns on silverware or the like which comprises, first, impressing the pattern into the article to be ornamented by subjecting it to the tom portions of the sunken pattern to form sharply defined cuts resembling those produced in a completely engraved pattern.

3. An article of silverware or the like provided with an ornamental pattern comprising, in part, 5

indented surfaces of compressed metal and in the deeper portions sharply cut surfaces.

HOWARD M. BALLOU. 

